Representation and diversity are important touchpoints in today’s pop culture landscape, and entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. is doing its part with providing that representation by introducing its first gay lead character on its streaming service, Disney+.
Deadline reports that the gay lead character, Greg, stars in the Pixar short film, Out. Out is part of Disney’s SparkShorts program, which the studio describes as an avenue where new storytellers and storytelling techniques can be discovered and new production workflows experimented with.
The nine-minute animated film shows Greg being afraid of coming out to his parents as he prepares to move into the city with his boyfriend, Manuel. Thanks to Greg and Manuel’s dog and “a little bit of magic,” hilarious events ensue and Greg and his mother go through an emotional journey.
CNN adds that the short was written and directed by Steven Clay Hunter. Hunter’s previous projects with Pixar include working on Finding Dory and Toy Story 4.
When Disney released a teaser of the short on social media, it garnered mostly positive responses from people online, with the hashtag #PixarOut being used. A common sentiment expressed by people was that they wished something like this was available when they were young gay children.
This new short film is the latest effort by Disney to provide a more diverse set of stories to their audience. As CNN notes, the recent Beauty and the Beast live-action movie portrayed LeFou as gay, while Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker featured two female rebel fighters kissing each other in the background. The latest Pixar film, Onward, also featured a horned cyclops character who turns out to be a lesbian. On the Disney Channel, the show Andi Mack featured a character who comes out as gay.
Putting the film on Disney+ is also a great way to draw viewers to the streaming service, as streaming has become the preferred mode of entertainment of most people as the global coronavirus pandemic has forced most people to stay inside. Disney+ has actually benefitted from these coronavirus-induced lockdowns, with its paid subscriber base swelling to 50 million amid the COVID-19 crisis.
It also doesn’t look like people are going to stop patronizing streaming services anytime soon, as confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world only continue to rise. In the May 26 situation report presented by the World Health Organization, it is shown that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world is now at 5,404512 people. The number of deaths that have been caused by COVID-19 is now at 343,514 people.